'They tried to deny my unemployment claim': Top 10+ "HR is not your friend" stories

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Mar 25, 2024 8:00 AM EDT

Let this serve as a friendly remember to never trust that HR has your back. No matter how charming their smiles are or how friendly they may seem when you're making small talk in the kitchenette, do not be fooled into thinking that anyone in the HR department is supporting anyone other than the head honchos. 

The grim part of this truth is that it may not even be HR's fault at the end of the day. They too are doing their jobs in an already established system. However, some of these stories certainly demonstrate the lengths some HR employees will go to carry out their boss's wishes. These anecdotes were compiled from the following r/AskReddit thread. 

Keep scrolling below for the full list. When you're done, feel free to take a look at this story about a job candidate whose potential salary was suddenly halved during the final interview round.

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  • 01
    MacBook Pro
    via Austin Distel
  • 02
    What's the worst "HR is not your friend" story you've witnessed/experienced?
    via u/ceowin
  • 03
    SagaciousElan HR hired consultants to run morale building employee input sessions. Basically saying "We're not from the company. You can tell us all the things you don't like about working here and would like to see changed and we'll put it all into a report for management. Don't worry, everything is anonymous, we just need material for our report and you guys get to have your say in improving things around here." Turns out HR and the consultants recorded all the sessions and played the highligh
    via u/ceowin
  • 04
    slimeydave. HR ordered me to downgrade my three excellent employee reviews to satisfactory because management didn't recognize their names. I got written up for telling my employees this. HR denied that they told me anything, even though I had the emails from them documenting it. Totally worth it. My employees were excellent and got the raises they deserved. 28.2k Share
    via u/ceowin
  • 05
    [deleted]. Overall I've been able to get along with HR departments with one exception. I was working a help desk job for a company during college and the head of HR called in for help. He was making an Excel spreadsheet and couldn't figure out how to make a formula do what he wanted. I offered to come take a look as we were in the same building and he told me I couldn't because the spreadsheet was full of confidential information. So I asked then if he could describe what exactly he was trying t
    via u/ceowin
  • 06
    Danobing I worked at a smallish company that grew big enough to hire a hr person. Her office was down from mine so in the mornings I'd swing by and say hi. That turned into grabbing a cup of coffee she had just made, the into having a pastry and talking about life. I found that if I mentioned someone's name in passing, a few minutes later she would spill the beans about that person's life. What work issues they had, health issues, family issues etc. I learned really quick any issues I had not to
    via u/ceowin
  • 07
    D14BLO. I went to HR to report that my team's manager was illegally shorting all of our paychecks. HR's response was to adopt a new, company-wide policy addressing the paycheck issue and back-paying most people for a certain amount, and also to frame me for work avoidance. HR and IT disabled part of my login account to a tool we used, and then fired me a few months later after failing to fix the problem and allowing me to actually do my job. They tried to deny my unemployment claim afterward. To
    via u/ceowin
  • 08
    Daikataro Upon giving two weeks notice, I get this stupid rant about millennial snowflakes, how we can't take the stress of a real job, and how we think we're so important and unique, but in reality the only thing that would happen, is that they would find another engineer to fill in for me, and things would be like I never existed. After the initial shock, I replied with a "you are absolutely correct. Me staying or not is meaningless. Consider my resignation immediate from this moment, please g
    via u/ceowin
  • 09
    Gysser Pulled into a meeting with two HR reps in the middle of my shift. Taken to this really nice boardroom, which was confusing because I was just a grunt and this is literally floors above where I should ever be. They sat me down and said basically what do you have to say for yourself. Me, still confused, tells them I have no idea what they're talking about. Everyone is really quiet and serious and I'm scared shitless. And they say you know what you did, this is cause for termination, blah bl
    via u/ceowin
  • 10
    Wisebutt98. HR person used her position to collect intel to get people she didn't like fired. 4.8k Share
    via u/ceowin
  • 11
    hc Not HR but heed my warning: don't type ANYTHING into your work computer that you wouldn't say directly to your company's HR person's face. I have seen people had cases built against them for poor work and ultimately fired for the they say over Skype. 4.3k Share
    via u/ceowin
  • 12
    GreatJanitor. After 4 years on the job, I was given a first and final warning for asking why the HR was behind a locked door and now dominated over half the first floor, filled with new furniture that was unused after 6 months, meanwhile, my chair was taken by another employee and I I was told to use the chair without padding. An executive from another department heard my complaint, stole one of the unused chairs from the HR expansion, and gave it to me, explaining that if I did it, I'd be fired
    via u/ceowin
  • 13
    armsupthrowaway Our HR always abuses the company budget. They have the nicest ergonomic keyboards, a fancy coffee machine in their office, and are the first to receive gifts from vendors. One time they did the food tasting for the company year-end party (that they were organising). Catering company allowed 2 people for food tasting, and will charge $100 for additional people. The ENTIRE HR department went in the afternoon (and charged the company for the tasting fee, of course). 1.4k Share ...
    via u/ceowin
  • 14
    walrustoe. A coworker complained to HR about his manager being too hard on him and ended up getting fired. HR is not your friend. Do not trust them. Now payroll on the other hand, payroll is your friend. Payroll doesn't give two about your problem and you can tell them anything you want. 772 Share
    via u/ceowin
  • 15
    [deleted] Went to HR on Tuesday because even though I enrolled in benefits, and my health insurance premium is coming out of my paycheck every week, I never got my ID cards. In fact I called the insurance company and they never heard of me and couldn't help me. HR said they would "get back to me." Yeah, right... 573 Share
    via u/ceowin
  • 16
    JAdamsidk123. HR was the bosses sister and the boss was a narcissist. The sister/HR had very little actual life experience because they both came from a big pharma family and never really had a sense of what working a real job was like. Boss could do no wrong in his sister's eyes, so complaining about anything just got you gaslit. Glad I'm not there anymore.
    via u/ceowin
  • 17
    Outlander56 We got a "Confidential Employee Survey" handed to us at work. It had our employee number on the top of the page
    via u/ceowin
  • 18
    9 MachineGame. We found a spy camera in our department office. It was shaped like a charging brick and had been recording video and audio all night. We copied the videos off the camera after the offender took it down and left it out on their desk. We took the video file that showed the person sneaking around an employee to remove the camera and turned that in with the information of what happened. That was almost a year ago now and nothing has been done. Getting ready to turn it in ourselves to
    via u/ceowin

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workplace-stories work stories toxic-workplace job work reddit thread Reddit company job interview interview toxic-work-environment
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